Ambrose Field, John Potter: Being Dufay - Music based on vocal fragments by Guillaume Dufay

Muzyka Dawna
premiera polska: 2009-03-06
opakowanie: Jewelcaseowe etui
opis:
Editor's Info:
A new project combining early music and contemporary sensibilities in a most attractive way.
John Potter’s clear and beautiful voice enveloped in Field’s generous electronic soundscapes.
Respectful but imaginative approach to a key figure in Western music history who was the first composer to achieve international fame in the 15th century.
Will appeal to broad audiences beyond the usual.
John Potter, co-founder and former singer of the Hilliard Ensemble, has a strong following also based on his three successful releases with The Dowland Project.
Potter’s new book Tenor: History of a Voice is published on 1 April.
British tenor John Potter and his fellow countryman Ambrose Field, prize-winning composer of electronic/digital music, offer an unusual juxtaposition of Renaissance composition and present-day technology: In seven interconnected pieces, vocal fragments from the songs and sacred works by 14th-century composer Guillaume Dufay soar beautifully above Field’s vast and multi-faceted soundscapes. “Then as now, music was not forever fixed but lived and breathed through the imaginations of former musicians and their listeners”, says Field in his liner notes. John Potter has long been committed to conceptual approaches to early music and, as a former blues and rock singer, has always had a strong interest in uncharted musical fields. His clear, almost boyish voice immerses itself with great ease in the allusively processed sounds. Field: “The fragments of original Dufay are always presented entirely unaltered, and serve as a reference point or cantus firmus within what is new. From that new perspective, I wanted to explore the limits of the electronic medium, produce a new set of musical colours and, perhaps above all, avoid the often mechanical aspects of working with technology.”
Ambrose Field, electronic music composer and performer, uses recorded environmental sound sources and custom computer processes to generate a distinctive soundworld that is dense and uncompromis-ingly relentless. Winner of four international awards including two Ars Electronica Honorary Mentions, he specialises in Surround Sound production, utilising formats ranging from 6.1 through to Ambisonics on installation, live music and film projects. John Potter, for 18 years a singer with the Hilliard Ensemble and one of its prime conceptual thinkers, a vocalist of rare versatility and erudition, has written extensively on singing. His last ECM album, with his own Dowland Project, Romaria (476 5780), containing music from the Carmina Burana manuscript to Josquin Desprez, was released to critical acclaim in 2008.

muzycy:
John Potter (tenor) & Ambrose Field (composer, live and studio electronics)

utwory:
1. Ma Belle Dame Souveraine.
2. Je Me Complains.
3. Being Dufay.
4. Je Vous Pri.
5. Presque Quelque Chose.
6. Sanctus.
7. La Dolce Vista

more info: www.ecmrecords.com